A city of two tales

The following video is from last Greensboro City Council meeting that took place last Monday. The Greensboro City Council usually meets on Tuesday. However, they changed the meeting to Monday because National Night Out was on a Tuesday. This change was made so council members would be able to attend National Night Out.

In the video Trudy Wade asks the Chief Tim Bellamy about a neighborhood that was being rocked with violence.

Bellamy reports to Wade his department was fully aware of the situation and the police have "canvassed the area."

On the day of National Night Out, the area Wade asked Bellamy about is once again rocked with violence. This time, a 16 year old kid was murdered in the middle of the day.



I wonder what "canvassing the area" was supposed to accomplish? I heard of the news and thought it was very sad but really did not have all of the details at that time. I worked the National Night Out event at East Side Park and while I was having fun frying fish and talking to people, I could not help but wonder what kind of National Night Out event the Hickory Trails community was having. I was disappointed when I learned they did not have one.

It was late Tuesday night when I thought of the idea of having a National Night Out event for Hickory Trails. I thought it was a great idea that would show the community that the rest of Greensboro cares about them. On Wednesday morning I called Chief Tim Bellamy and pitched my idea to him. He agreed with me fully and assured me that the department would back me up. I then called Mayor Yvonne Johnson, Councilman Robbie Perkins and Councilwoman Trudy Wade. Everyone was in agreement with me. It was at this point that I contacted council candidates Ryan Shell and Nancy Vaughan and they fully supported the idea.

I decided that I would call the News and Record and tell them of my idea and they helped get the word out about the event. Later that day I got the following email from Donna Gray of the City of Greensboro.

Wed, Aug 5, 2009 4:29 pm

The Southern Community Resource Team went out earlier and talked with the property management of Hickory Trails. They have questions and some concerns and would like to talk to you. The contact at Greensboro Housing Authority is Lee Staton, 275-8501. They have not issued permission for the event on their grounds. The permission will be contingent upon your conversation with Mr. Staton. Thanks.

I called Donna to get a little more information and she told me that the Greensboro Housing Authority wanted to talk to me. She further explained that the folks at the housing authority were concerned that something "celebratory" taking place could negatively impact the grieving family. At the time, all of that seemed valid and I respected the request. I tried to contact Mr. Staton but was unsuccessful. Because of this, I called the Mayor and asked her to attempt to contact the folks at the housing authority and she agreed to do so. I called Donna Gray to let her know the Mayor was going to participate in the conversation.

Later that night, on the way to my daughter's birthday party, I got a call from Robbie Perkins to inform me that the Mayor had talked to the Greensboro Housing Authority's Executive Director Tina Akers Brown. Perkins reported to me that Akers wanted to talk to me. I got her phone number and called the number several times during my daughter's birthday party. Tina never answered my calls.

Today I woke up today and began calling the housing authority and asked for Tina and Mr. Staton. I was unable to get in touch with them after several attempts. Later on I got a call from Mayor Johnson wanting to know if I was still going to do the event. She told me that she had gotten approval from the housing authority and I needed to call them and let them know of the plan. I called them back and was still unable to reach anyone other than a secretary.

I told the person on the phone that the event was still on and asked her to please pass that information along. I then called Greensboro City Manager, Bob Morgan to update him. Morgan told me that he was advising council to stay away and he did not want the event to take place. He cited the grieving family/community not wanting the event and the threat of danger as his reasons. I reluctantly agreed to stand down and Morgan thanked me and told me that the event I was planning was really making him nervous.

The News and Record put out a story about the event being canceled and Mr. Morgan's reasons for working to stop the event were printed.

City Council candidates had planned to hold a belated National Night Out event in the neighborhood Thursday, but it was canceled to allow residents and the family time to grieve. “You need to respect the neighborhood’s wishes. If they know they aren’t ready for something, you help them work through the issue,” said interim City Manager Bob Morgan.

I had recieved a few calls from people that live at Hickory Trails and around Hickory Trails that wanted to participate in the event. I called them back and told them it was being canceled because the city reported the community did not want the event. They responded by saying they felt the community would enjoy the event and did not know of anyone from the city or the housing authority that had asked their opinion of the event.

National Night Out is described by the City of Greensboro as an event that is designed to do the following.

1. Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness

2. Generate support for, and participation in, local anti-crime programs

3. Strengthen neighborhood spirit and police community partnerships

4. Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back

According to the city web site,

"Greensboro was one of 26 cities nationwide with a population of between 100,000 – 299,999 to be recognized nationally for its support of NNO. The City and department have been recognized 11 years, ten consecutive years since 1993."

I tried to stop thinking about the cancellation of the event because I was getting frustrated by the contradicting statements. I kept telling myself that the city could have talked to the family and the family could have voiced concern about the event. However, thanks to Ryan Shell (click to see the entire film. Ryan showed tremendous heart by doing this) we now know that the mother of the murder victim had no problem with the event taking place. Watch the clip from Ryan's film below.



Now review Bob Morgan's statement in the News and Record:

“You need to respect the neighborhood’s wishes. If they know they aren’t ready for something, you help them work through the issue,” said interim City Manager Bob Morgan.

What were the neighborhood's wishes? When did Bob or anyone else ask the family if they were for or against the event? Who decided the community wasn't ready for this type of event? It appears that the city and the housing authority have completely ignored the family's urgent cries for help and have now reduced themselves to putting words in their mouth. The community needed and wanted the event. The city and the housing authority worked hard to find reasons that the event should not take place. I am going to take a break for a few days.